The Denali Commission: A Major Player for Rural Alaska.

• Author: BATTEN, BRUCE T.
• Position: Statistical Data Included

The spectators and the other members of Alaska's business team are beginning to take notice: There's a new player on the field, and the whole game is changing.

The "game" is nothing less than economic and social growth across the entire scope of Alaska; the new "player" is the Denali Commission. The goal is as global as establishing a presence in the emerging new world economy, and as local as sustainable economic self sufficiency here in Alaska. The primary obstacle is the lack of infrastructure in rural Alaska.

"If the game is economic development, then infrastructure is the playing field. The Denali Commission plan is to level the playing field," said Jeff Staser, federal co-chair of the Denali Commission.

Staser notes that the U.S. has long enjoyed the finest infrastructure in the world. The fundamental public services basic to our society-such as power, sanitation and health care-are provided to the vast majority of Americans by a collaboration of government and business and have been in place for generations.

"Most people in the U.S. don't even know the meaning of the word 'infrastructure,' since they take it for granted," said Staser. "Can you imagine Bill Gates developing Microsoft if he lived in a community where he could not depend on his electricity, his phone, his drinking water or his heat, let alone if he had to empty his own honey bucket?"

So Many Needs to be Met

Such is the plight of many impoverished rural and Native American com munities throughout Alaska. The typical Alaska village community is over 1,000 miles from the state capitol. Unemployment exceeds 50 percent in over 150 of Alaska communities and 40 percent of these communities lack indoor plumbing. The challenge is to help these communities move closer to economic self-sufficiency, while striving to preserve cultural values that determine the strength and spirit of the people living on America's Last Frontier.

The challenge for the Denali Commission seems as large as the mountain for which it is named. According to Staser, the Denali Commission process is much more of a game plan than a set of individual plays.

A Federal Program

So what exactly is the Denali Commission and what is its role in this game? How can this new federally created entity affect Alaska's business community and the region's future? Since 1867, when the United States government purchased Alaska from the Russian government, federal funds have played a critical role in Alaska's cash economy...